Month: May 2010

My name is Anneke, a 26 year old bartender and beerlover. After studying Hotel management I was a little disappointed concerning the attention for our Belgian Beers in class.

So I searched and found a study just made for my plans: Zythology – Zythos is an ancient Greek word that is translated as “beer”. This profound “beer-ology” lessons I started out in the fall of 2008 and within a few weeks now, I’ll obtain my degree as a Zytholoog.

The past two years I have spent studying the production process for the different beer types, building up tasting expertise by tasting a few beers every lesson guided by some of the best Belgian brewers. We have wandered around in the rich history of our beers, going from the very beginning till the high-end techniques we have today and throughout the monasteries of our famous Belgian Trappists. Took a closer look at the impact of beer on our health and off course learned how to pour the perfect beer.
In the last steps of the course we learn how to match that perfect poured beer with a tasteful dish to give you the ultimate Belgian culinary experience. Our maybe sip it away with some lovely menu from abroad, the choice is yours.

From now on, I will try to be your guide throughout Belgium. I’ll take you away to breweries and their beers giving you an insight in the mysterious world of brewing. Every week we’ll try to provide you a different view on the beer.

Some weeks I’ll give you a more technical hint, another week a beer and / or a brewery will be in the center of attention. We can go time-travelling to either the future or the past in a few blogs. And we might not forget to provide you with some recipes to come by the finest of all beers.

Cantillon Brewery is one of the Gueuze brewers that only uses organic materials to brew its beers and the reason for that is twofold.

The first reason is tradition, Cantillon defends the age-old tradition of brewing spontaneous fermentation beers and secondly, the brewery tries to defend the natural taste of the beer by only using the best raw materials.

This is why in 1999 the Cantillon Brewery decided to go back to its roots and only use organically grown cereals.

GUEUZE 100% ORGANIC LAMBIC

Cantillon Brewery has made quite some beautiful brews over the years, they listen to names such as Rosé de Gambrinus, a raspberry-lambic, Grand Cru Bruocsella, 3yr old lambic matured in oak-wooden vats mixed with apples and honey.

Next Cantillon has a bitter and cold-hopped gueuze called Iris.

The Iris flower who used to grow abuntantly on the banks of the river Zenne in Brussels. The Iris, symbol of Brussels and the Iris beer, a very bitter-sour lambic-geueze is only brewed once a year.

Vigneronne another beautiful product-line of Cantillon is obtained by mixing Lambic with muscat-grapes from Hoeilaart, Overijse and Huldenberg.

Saint-Lamvinus is rare brew made of 3 year-old lambic mixed and soaked with the grapes from the Merlot and Cabarnet-frand varieties in Bordeaux barrels. Cantillon only carries limited production of this brew !

Fou’ Foune, the nickname of a apricot-grower from the Rhone valley promised to bring Cantillon 300 kgs of ‘Bergerons’ apricots after harvest to make a new brew with lambic-beer.

The limited production of only 3000 l goes in a large part back to the region in France where the apricots come from !

The Lou Pepe line of beers surely have a more fruity flavor. Here the brewery mixes 300 gr of fruit (raspberries or cherries) for every liter of lambic, this in combination with the addition of sweet liqueur and lagering in Bordeaux vats. The result distinguishes these special and rare beers from the other brews from Cantillon.

Kurt from Belgiuminabox.com is a fan of the Cantillon Brewery, I consider this brewery one of the top brewers in Belgium. I try hard to get hold of their beers and to offer them on the beer-shop.

I recently learned from people of the brewery there is a chance the Fou’ Foune won’t be produced anymore. The decision hasn’t been made yet. The harvest of new peaches is July-August.

Story to be continued…

Check the Fruit-Lambic section of Belguminabox.com to find out what lambic-beers of Cantillon are in stock.